The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 28, 2011
Filed:
Mar. 05, 2008
Clark Alexander Bendall, Syracuse, NY (US);
Kevin George Harding, Niskayuna, NY (US);
Guiju Song, Shanghai, CN;
LI Tao, Shanghai, CN;
Clark Alexander Bendall, Syracuse, NY (US);
Kevin George Harding, Niskayuna, NY (US);
Guiju Song, Shanghai, CN;
Li Tao, Shanghai, CN;
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
A system for determining an object distance z includes a plurality of light emitters. A group of at least one of the plurality of light emitters includes an emitter group, and the pattern projected when one emitter group is emitting includes a fringe set. The light pattern of one fringe set exhibits a phase-shift relative to the light patterns of the other fringe sets, and the phase-shift varies as the distance from the origin of the plurality of fringe sets varies. The system further includes a processing unit that is configured to compute a ripple metric value associated with each of a plurality of possible z values. The processing unit is further configured to determine an approximated z value using the computed ripple metric values. A probe system is also provided. The probe system is configured to project a plurality of fringe sets from the probe onto an object. The light pattern of one fringe set exhibits a phase-shift relative to the light patterns of the other fringe sets, and the phase-shift varies as the distance from the origin of the plurality of fringe sets varies. The probe system is further configured to compute a ripple metric value associated with each of a plurality of possible z values, where z is an object distance. The probe system is also configured to determine an approximated z value using the computed ripple metric values. A method for determining an object distance z is also provided.